With less than a week until the Utica Boilermaker, I shortened my final long run to five miles and added a 10 hour day of strenuous Adirondack High Peaks hiking. According to my 15K training plan, I am due to run a few 2 and 3 mile runs this week as part of my pre race taper. More important to me is getting into the right state of mind - 15K is farther than I have ever ran in my life!
North Carolina runner Thad McLaurin shares some great advice from Joan Benoit Samuelson’s speech at the pre-marathon pasta dinner for the North Carolina Marathon on his Runner Dude’s Blog. Joan Benoit Samuelson advised the runners to mentally break up long races into shorter runs and keep motivated with a personally relevant mantra.
Her advice to Lance Armstrong in the 2006 NYC Marathon is a technique I use – focus on catching up to and passing runners ahead of you, one after another, instead of struggling from one mile marker to the next.
What racing strategies do you use during long distance races?
Want to run faster? Click here to get free running and nutrition tips by email.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Glad to hear you're pushing yourself to go farther than you have before. ^_^
ReplyDeleteI'd like to share a racing strategy. When running longer races, I find myself feeling a bit peppy at the start. I focus on going slow at first, settling into a cadence. About 2 miles in, my muscles feel relaxed. I breathe deep and drop my shoulders. Left, Right, Left, Right. Before you know it, you're in a rhythm and it feels great. Yea, you hit your lows, but if you keep moving forward, you'll hit that finish.
See you at the Boilermaker. :)